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Mystery Boxes

I posted a few weeks back about a little project Decca worked on and how much he loved it. Someone asked me for the directions, so I thought I would make a post about it.

The box was an assignment that dealt with learning about the mystery genre, and after learning about the genre the student was to make a cube. On the sides of the cube the student would write information on the mystery (that he or she created on their own) such as the title, the suspects, the culprit, the setting, the mystery, and the clues. Decca had so much fun thinking up his own mystery and writing it all down.

The first step in making a mystery box is to cut a cube out of cardboard or card stock. We used an old shoe box for our cube, and it worked great. You can make the cube any size you want, but you need to make sure each square is the same size. Here is a picture of ours. (In subsequent cubes I added a little flap to one square to make it easier to glue together. You may want to consider doing this)

While the cube is still flat have the student fill out the information on their cube.

This is the title of Decca’s mystery.

This is the characters from his mystery.

The setting for the story.

What is the mystery?

The clues that help solve the mystery.

And finally we find out who is the culprit.

After the student has completed all the squares you simply glue or tape the box up. Then your student should try to write the story out. The outline of the story is already done, so the transition to paper goes rather smoothly. Have fun!